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Fun Facts-2 活用知识搜查线-2

课文朗读

课文讲解

Q: Every February, lovers young and old give each other flowers and chocolate, but why do we celebrate Valentine’s Day?  每年二月，情人不分老少会互送对方花和巧克力，但我们为什么要庆祝情人节呢？

(A) To keep candy companies in business.  为了保持糖果公司的生意

(B) To honor a kind-hearted saint.  为了纪念一位仁心的圣人

(C) To make single people jealous.  为了令单身的人们妒忌

A: If you picked B, then you’ve already been pierced by Cupid’s arrow. The tradition of Valentine’s Day most likely comes from the story of St. Valentine. He was a Roman priest in the 3^rd century who carried out private marriages for soldiers. The Roman Emperor Claudius II believed that single soldiers made better fighters, so he banned all holy unions. When he found out what the saint was doing, he had him killed.

如果你选B，那你已被丘比特之箭刺穿你的心。情人节的传统最有可能来自圣瓦伦泰的故事。他曾是一位在公元第三世纪私下帮助军人成婚的罗马牧师。罗马帝王克劳迪斯二世相信单身的士兵才能成为更好的战士，因此下令禁止所有联姻。当他发现这位圣人的所作所为后，便将他处死。

Q: There is no higher honor in American cinemathan receiving an Academy Award. But do you know how the Oscar statuette got its name?  在美国电影界中，没有比得到学院奖更高的荣誉了。但你知道奥斯卡小金人雕像何以得此名的吗？

(A) It looked like the Academy librarian’s relative. 它长得像学院图书馆员的亲戚

(B) It was accidentally misnamed in the newspapers.  它是在报纸上被误称其名

(C) It is the name of the gold paint they use on the award. 它是奖座上金色颜料的名称

A: You deserve an Oscar for “Best Guesser” if you correctly figured the answer to be A. the true origin of how the little guy got his name is unknown, but the most popular one is that of Margaret Herrick. Herrick was a librarian of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences when the statuette was made. Upon seeing it, she said, “It looks just like my Uncle Oscar!” The name stuck, and the awards have been called Oscars ever since.

如果你料到正确答案是A，你可以得到一座奥斯卡「最佳猜题」奖。这位小金人的真正起源不得而知，但最广为接受的一个原因是关于玛格丽特．赫丽克。当这座小雕像被制造时，赫丽克是美国电影艺术与科学学院的图书馆员。她一见到它便说：「它看起来就像我的叔叔奥斯卡！」这个名称不胫而走，从此学院奖就被称作奥斯卡奖。

单词发音

Vocabulary

priest [prist] n.（基督教）牧师；（天主教）神父

Every Sunday morning, I go to the priest in the church for guidance.

ban [bæn] v. 禁止

(ban-banned-banned)

Taiwan first banned US beef imports in 2003 because the meat could cause health problems.

union [ˋjunjən] n. 结合；结婚

Marriage is thought of as a union between two people.

librarian [laɪˋbrɛrɪən] n. 图书馆员

library n. 图书馆

I love to spend all day in the library and hope to work there as a librarian one day.

relative [ˋrɛlətɪv] n. 亲戚，亲属

I can't hang out tonight because I have to take care of a sick relative in the hospital.

accidentally [͵æksəˋdɛnt!ɪ] adv. 偶然地；意外地

I was in such a rush this morning that I accidentally left my wallet at home.

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young and old 无论老少；人人

saint [sent] n.（教会正式承认的）圣徒

pierce [pɪrs]v. 刺穿，刺破

statuette [͵stætʃʊˋɛt] n. 小雕像

misname [mɪsˋnem] v. 误称

stick [stɪk] v. 沿用；坚持；固守

课文朗读

课文讲解

Q: There are several kinds of tunnels, but the one thing that they all have in common is their round shape. So why are tunnels round?  隧道有好几种，但它们的共通点为都是圆形。那为什么隧道是圆的呢？

(A) It is quicker to dig round shapes in the earth than square ones. 在地上挖圆形比方形来得快

(B) The man who invented the tunnel found round shapes pleasant. 发明隧道的人觉得圆形讨喜

(C) Tunnels are round because the drills that dig them are round. 隧道是圆的是因为钻头是圆的

A: Hopefully you weren’t digging around for a clue, because the answer is C. The giant drill that engineers use to dig into the ground is called a tunnel-boring machine (TBM). A lot of people have nicknamed this tool “the mole.” Interestingly, the truth is a mole can dig five times faster than a TBM. Of course, a mole hole is too tiny for people.

希望你没有一直钻研这个问题，因为答案是C。工程师用来深掘地面的大型钻头叫做全断面隧道钻掘机(TBM)，许多人将此工具昵称为「钻地鼠」。有趣的是，地鼠钻地的速度比TBM快上五倍。当然，地鼠钻的洞对人来说实在是太小了。

Q: The Internet seems inseparable from everyday life. Do you know who invented the Internet? 网络似乎和日常生活密不可分。你知道是谁发明网络的吗？

(A) The Unites States government.  美国政府

(B) NASA  (美国太空总署)

(C) Steve Jobs. 史蒂夫．贾伯斯

A: You must have a high-speed connection in your brain if you guessed A. After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into outer space, the US feared it would get behind the Soviets in technology. To prevent this from happening, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (美国国防部高等研究计划局) came up with a solution. They created an international network of computers to allow for speedy transmission of information. The technology is now used daily by over two billion people worldwide.

如果你猜A，你的头脑里一定有高速网络。在苏联发射人造卫星到外层空间后，美国担忧会在科技上落后苏联。为了避免这种情况发生，美国国防部高等研究计划局想出了一个解决方案。他们创造一个计算机的因特网来提供快速的数据传输。这种科技现在每天被世界上超过二十亿人所使用。

－by Kristopher Snyder

单词发音

Vocabulary

drill [drɪl] n. 钻孔机

You need a good drill if you want to make some holes in the wall.

engineer [͵ɛndʒəˋnɪr] n. 工程师，技师

Mary wants to be an engineer because she loves to design machines.

nickname [ˋnɪk͵nem] v. 起绰号

(nickname-nicknamed-nicknamed)

I nicknamed my dog "Shorty" because she's shorter than other dogs.

connection [kəˋnɛkʃən] n. 连接; 关系

The date with my friend went really well and I feel our connection is pretty strong now.

network [ˋnɛt͵wɝk] n. 计算机网络

The entire network went down after a virus got to it through an e-mail.

speedy [ˋspidɪ] adj. 迅速的；快的

speed n. 速度

When the alarm went off, the thief made a speedy exit from the building.

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have in common 在...(如兴趣、经验等)有共同之处

mole [mol] n. 鼹鼠，钱鼠

inseparable [ɪnˋsɛpərəb!] adj. 不可分离的[（+from）]

Sputnik [ˋspʊtnɪk] n.【俄】人造卫星

transmission [trænsˋmɪʃən] n. 播送；传输